


Family can be a lot of ways (just not the one you expect)

by ThatOneGirlBehindYou



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Genre: Found Family, Gen, Hector and Adira are Varian's disaster queer uncle/aunt, If the Disney Cinematic Universe is not a thing I'm treating it as one now, Not Canon Compliant, i don't know that bitch, villain!Varian AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2021-01-16 01:14:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21262673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatOneGirlBehindYou/pseuds/ThatOneGirlBehindYou
Summary: Varian has joined (and later taken over) Caine's crew to try and find a way to rescue his father. He finds that maybe he's not as alone as he'd thought, and that family can be two bull sized knights and their small criminal nephew.A parallel story to the plotline of(Like the moon) I'll sway the tide and lead you astrayexplaining that universe's Varian's relationship with Hector and Adira. Can be read as a standalone but it won't make much sense.





	Family can be a lot of ways (just not the one you expect)

**Author's Note:**

> A parallel story to the plotline of [(Like the moon) I'll sway the tide and lead you astray](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15837708/chapters/36881490) explaining that universe's Varian's relationship with Hector and Adira. Can be read as a standalone but it won't make much sense.

Caine said four days, and Varian plans to make the most of it. They're stopped at an archipelago in the middle of nowhere, and the Captain told them all to scram while she got them a deal on supplies, which Varian is grateful for.

He's still planning the mutiny, but he needs more time for that, more people he can trust -as much as he can trust anyone but Hans in a ship full of criminals- so for now he's content with just following orders, as all the travelling suits his investigation just fine.

The locals have a legend, about a stone that grants life back to what has lost it. The heart of a goddess, according to the tale. Varian knows this is smoke and mirrors, magic tales invented to explain phenomena the people can't understand, but his interest is still piqued. If he's lucky, a careless alchemist abandoned a Philosopher's stone, which can convert any liquid it's submerged in into a healing elixir rivalled by none.

It _has_ to be enough for his father. 

So Varian hires a dingy and a wayfarer with his coin from the last raid, and he and Ruddiger leave the island without telling anyone else in the crew.

\----

The island _does_ look like a sleeping woman, Varian concedes to the islander that gives the landmass a heartfelt salute with an oddly ceremonial gesture. But still, legends are just that, and Varian climbs off the dingy despite his guide's objections. 

From there, he's alone. The man won't set foot on what he believes is a sleeping goddess, but Varian doesn't need him. He heads to what would correspond with the sleeping woman's chest. It's sappy, but if the locals believe it's a heart it's probably because it's located like one.

\----

All he finds by the island's "chest" is a crevice so small not even Ruddiger can squeeze through, and Varian spends a couple very productive minutes on screaming at the sky in frustration.

Immature? Maybe. But he's 16, he thinks he has a right. 

After letting I=it all out, Varian drops to his knees, and crams his arm as far as it will go into the opening, swinging wildly in what feels like a much wider little cave in search for the Philosopher's stone.

He doesn't hear the steps behind him, or the swords being unsheathed, and when he does hear Ruddiger's warning hiss it's a little too late to do anything but freeze as the tip of a blade comes to rest by his nape.

"I hope for your sake you found the stone. It might just get you out of here alive" says grave, smooth voice. "Get up slowly"

"He's just a kid Hector" the second voice to speak is a woman's. "Child, give us the stone and you'll be ok. Just don't try anything"

"I don't have it" Varian says shakily. He's so close, _so close_. He can feel a soft, smooth and round bump with the tips of his fingers, and here he is caught off guard and outnumbered in a strange island. This could very well be the only chance he gets. "But... But if you help me, I'll give it to you" he says. He promises even. "I just need to free my father. You can have it afterwards, and a lot of gold. I don't care, just _please_ help-"

"Don't make this any more difficult kid" the man sounds apologetic at least "we need the stone too. Now, if you don't have it then get off. Well get it out"

"But-"

"Get up" orders the woman this time. If sounds serious, like she's not used at all to people disobeying her. Varian is smart, and he knows he can't save his father if he's been turned into a kebab, so he nods and lift his hands in surrender. "Thank you. Now turn around slowly, and leave"

The weapon retreats only far enough for him turn, and what comes back to rest on top of Varian's collarbone is a very familiar black blade that joins in an ornate grey metal guard. 

The wielder is a big man, with pale skin and black hair, and carefully contoured acid green eyes. Behind him stands an even taller woman with a shock of pure white hair and half her face dyed orange-red.

Both their faces are serious and stoic. Both faces also experience a transformation as they focus on Varian's.

"What the fuck?" The man mutters, before turning to his companion "I'm not imagining it am I?"

The woman shakes her head. "No brother... Child" she steps forward. "Who are you? What's your name?"

Varian still has a sword to his throat, but he also still has his dignity. "I don't see by two mercenaries would care about my name" he spits out. The flash of a ringed tail catches his attention, and he smiles. "Anyways, good luck getting the stone, you pair of brutes!" 

He springs to action just as Ruddiger sinks his fangs in the man's free hand, sprinting away from the two would be attackers. The raccoon is fast and small and agile, and he catches up to Varian in a blink.

The two mercenaries are already in hot pursuit, Varian can guess from the heavy footsteps behind him, but by then they have a healthy advantage on them. The fact that Varian chose to run between the trees where his smaller form is more useful than the others' bumbling mass helps a lot.

"STOP RIGHT THERE YOU BRAT!" yells the man

"WE JUST WANT TO TALK!" adds the woman "WE'RE NOT GOING TO HURT- HECTOR NO YOU'RE GOING TO KILL HIM!"

Varian pushes to run faster at the implied threat, until something yanks on the collar of his shirt with enough strength to trip him off his feet.

He never goes down though, hanging by some unseen resistance, and when he looks up he finds the black sword stabbed through the shoulder of his shirt and the trunk of a tree, effectively pinning him in place.

He also sees a small bleeding cut on the flesh of his shoulder, which is a remarkably small injury for a longsword thrown at a moving target while running through the jungle.

It's good to know he's going to die to a remarkable swordman at least.

"For the Order, Hector you're crazy!" The woman screams, as she runs over to him. She's even bigger up close, and she straightens him up with ease. She also very pointedly does not pull the sword out.

"He's standing still now isn't he?" The man comes to crouch next to the woman, and pulls out a piece of parchment. "is this you? Varian?"

And he freezes, as the man -Hector?- unfolds the paper to show its contents.

_Wanted Alive for Crimes Against the Crown. Great Duke Varian of Corona. 50.000 Suns_

"Is that why you're here?" Varian asks. It's impossible to deny his identity, the drawing is as detailed as it's damning. They must've copied from one of the portraits his father commissioned "I'm not going back. You're going to have to take me dead if you want the reward" 

His voice is a bit shaky, but Varian means every word. He will die, before he's forced back into the dungeons below the castle while his father rots in the amber.

The mercenaries are smiling now, though it's not the sort of smile Varian would wait of them. It looks excited yes, but where it should be cunning and mischievous it's got a relieved edge to it.

"No Varian, I- you're safe with us" the woman grabs the sword with a single hand, and rips it off the tree. "My child, my name is Adira... This is Hector" she gestures at the sword-throwing lunatic, who's still crouched before Varian blocking all possibility of an escape unless Ruddiger attacks again.

"We've been looking for you kid" the man smiles. Then, before Varian can come back with a snappy remark or an insult, he opens his mouth again and drops the biggest game changer in Varian's life since black rock spikes began spontaneously growing around Corona. "your father Quirin is our brother"

\----

It takes hours. Varian is not gullible by any means, and these two have to come at him with their deepest memories of his father for him to believe him. 

Even then, he's still suspicious.

"Why are you here though?" Varian asks. "you said you were looking for me, but no one knows where I am. I made sure of that."

"It was a lucky encounter really" Adira -the name feels almost natural in his mind, like she's someone he was meant to know all his life. He makes sure to pull his defenses back up as soon as he catches himself thinking that way- says. She's sitting with her back to the wall of the cave, her sword resting by her feet. "after we went to Old Corona and found your father... We knew we had to find you, and keep you safe now that he couldn't-"

"Jury's still out on whether this means you didn't need us at all or that we should've found you much sooner" Hector interrupts, and gives the wanted poster a shake. "Fifty thousand suns kid, what did you even do?" He smirks with what can only be described as pride. Varian chuckles, pleased.

"As I was saying!" Adira kicks at Hector's leg. "We knew we had to find you. But we also had to help our brother. And when we caught wind that you'd escaped the dungeons..." She shrugs "we figured the Moon would lead us together eventually. It wasn't hard to imagine you'd be looking for your own way to help Quirin, so we've been asking about you in the places we go looking for cures. Never did strike gold, until now"

"I definitely didn't expect we'd have to skewer you to a tree after you set a rabid raccoon on us" Hector says, scratching said raccoon's soft belly. "But your father was always one for unexpected strategies. Should've figured you'd inherit it"

"Well excuse me for not sitting still while two unknown and very armed mercenaries held me at swordpoint" Varian rolls his eyes "if anything, you should be commending my quick thinking, dear _uncle_" he says, dragging the last word in that voice that he knows can dig under everyone's skin... But I doesn't seem to bother the man. 

Huh.

"I do, it's a well trained little monster you got here" Hector scratches at Ruddiger's belly a bit harder, making the raccoon squeal in delight "you gonna protect your owner buddy? Gonna keep him safe?" It's frankly ridiculous to watch, the huge man baby talking the raccoon.

From Adira's fond and amused look, Varian guesses it's not an uncommon occurrence.

The scene feels too comfortable, especially taking into account the ever present weight on Varian's chest, and he eventually decides to address it.

"Did you..." He starts, and clears his throat before continuing, now that Adira's looking at him "did you find something?"

Her black eyes soften when she looks at him. "Not quite. Many miracle cures for illnesses, but what plagues Quirin is... Different. I think you know" she says as softly as she can in her booming voice. "But we'll keep looking. And you can come with us! We'll keep you safe, Varian, and we _have_ to find something, together it'll be-"

"Slower" Varian says the word as soon as it springs in his mind, yet he knows it to be truth. "I travel with- I'm part of a ship's crew" he adds at Adira's inquisitive look. "We move. We hear a lot of things. It's how I found out about this rock, and a bunch of other things"

Hector looks up from Ruddiger then, eyes narrowed. "So you're saying...?"

Varia goes to reply, but finds that his words have gotten stuck in his throat. He clears it again, to shake them loose. "I would... Like it. To go with you." He explains. He really would, much to his surprise. This man and woman are strangers, but they belong to his father just like Varian does. They _should_ be together, in a fair world. "but I think..."

"You think we can cover more ground separated" Adira sighs heavily. "It makes sense... I don't like it, but it does"

Varian looks away. 

"Well, no need to look like someone else died, you two" Hector stands up to walk to the cave's entrance, and whistles a loud, pure note for a couple moments. When he comes back, it's with an enormous raven perched on his arm and watching them all curiously. 

"A bird?" Varian frowns.

"Her name is Neela" he says, and the bird puffs out at the sound of his voice. "She will find you with news of us, wherever you are. And for your sake kid, she better find us with news of you"

"How is a bird going to find me in the middle of the sea?" Varian arches an eyebrow.

Hector smirks "Why, magic of course" 

Varian rolls his eyes. Whatever, let him keep his secrets. 

"I should be getting back" Varian says. "The Captain only gave us some days. They'll leave me behind if I don't make the date"

Adira nods. "We have something more for you though" she says, and looks at Hector, who nods back. "Your father and us... We were all part of a Brotherhood" she starts. "It's how we became family. We're bound by honor and loyalty rather than blood. We served King Edmund, and the Dark Kingdom"

"... If you serve Corona's sister kingdom please remind me again why you aren't turning me in?" Varian arches an eyebrow.

"We're all that's left of the Brotherhood, kid" Hector pets the raven's head with a finger. "My sister is all I have. My brother. Now you as well. King Edmund has my loyalty, but a man has to keep something for himself" he shrugs.

Varian looks at Adira with an arched eyebrow, and she smiles.

"Call me an oathbreaker, but there hasn't been a man alive that's been able to tie me down" she shrugs as well, much more cheerfully than Hector. "It's not going to happen now"

"Would sound a lot more impressive if that will held out when faced with a pair of tits as well, sister" Hector smirks.

"The world is cold and hard and one must find comfort in the best things in life brother, not my fault you're simply unbearable and stink of tree and beasts" and she turns. "But back to our business... Each one of us was given a blade, when we made our oath. This is Penumbra" 

She pulls out her sword, the black metal appearing to devour the light even inside the cave.

"Lugubris" Hector unsheathes his own blade, and rests it next to Adira's. "And when we visited our brother... We figured we'd bring you his. It's yours by right"

Adira is busy unsheathing a third sword, only to offer it along with the scabbard, for Varian to take.

"This is your father's sword, Tenebras" she says. The air in the cave feels loaded, as Varian wraps a hand around the guard. He's seen both scabbard and sword many times before, well tucked away inside his father's chest. It serves to drive the point home, that these people aren't lying. That for once, Varian isn't alone. "may it serve you as well as it served him, nephew"

\---------

He sees them next a year or so later, after endless letters carried back and forth by a raven that, if he didn't know better, Varian would say is using actual magic to find him.

Usually it's news about what the three of them have found that might help free Quirin, but sometimes it's just words. Stories about when they were kids at the Dark Kingdom, playing knights without even imagining they would someday take the oath for real. Recountings of the time Quirin hired a band of explorers to hunt down both of them and tell them of Varian's birth. Well wishes, and advise offered in response to questions Varian never truly dared ask in his own letters, but that they seemed to sense he needed anyways.

At first it had been tricky, with Neela only able to come and go at night when the others wouldn't see her. After the mutiny though, the new Captain's messenger became a regular sight at the Chryssopoeia, and Varian sent her away shortly before setting course to Portugal.

The Fountain of Eternal life waited there, a restorative elixir that might just be strong enough to free Quirin.

\----

"Auntie. Uncle" he greets with a smile as soon as he walks into the Fountain's sanctuary and sees Hector's fur cloak and Adira's white hair, both bent over something in the middle of the room "I didn't think you'd have the time to come, but it's nice to see you already had a chance to figure this thing out"

Both of them turn to him in an instant.

"Nephew!" Adira grins, the "Fountain of Life Eternal" forgotten in favor of going to sweep him off his feet in a hug. It's nice, Varan muses, to be worth so much to someone just on virtue of being him. "You haven't grown an inch!"

"Don't be ridiculous sister" Hector all but snatches Varian away. "He's grown at least two full inches! It's not much, but it's an admirable effort for a shrimp"

"Thanks" Varian rolls his eyes, but pats the man's back. "But I'll have you know I'm a Captain now, and I won't tolerate this disrespect"

"Oh my. Well I'll have _you_ know I'm a Captain's aunt" Adira smirks. "And I'll disrespect my skinny twig of a nephew as much as it takes to get him to get some meat on those bones"

"Plenty of people pestering me to eat, don't you worry about that" Varian smiles, and adds in a mock whisper to Hector "and I'm getting some meat that's for sure"

The man roars with laughter and sets him down finally. "You're shameless, got it from me" he says, and begins to sober up. "There's not much here anymore sadly. If there ever was, it's been destroyed."

Varian sighs. "Thought so... I'd heard rumours, but I'd hoped they were wrong" he says. "Still, it's nice to see you. Care for a ride? My ship's outside, I'll drop you at port"

"Well how could we say no to that?"

\----

"I've never seen Hans drink so much" Brogden comments as he and Bìhn bring the next round of beers for the crew. At the table before them, Hans fights his way through another pint as Adira and Hector down their sixth happily.

"And you never will" Varian shrugs, lifting his jug. "This is a foolish endeavor, and he's not going to commit such a stupidity again"

"I don't believe it" says Annie. 

"I'd ask you to elaborate, but I know you will anyways" Varian takes a sip of his drink. Zulka cackles at the offense, and Annie cracks a smirk. 

"Good, then it won't take you by surprise" she pokes his shoulder. "how come they're your relatives, if they're so... Big? And you're... Compact?"

The whole crew erupts in laughter then, and Varian chuckles as well, splashing the woman with the moisture gathered on the the table.

"Let me tell you, none of my bedmates have ever complained" he throws back, and the crew grows even louder. Hector and Adira look over, downing their seventh jug as Hans concedes with a gracious run to the outhouse.

\----

"We're never going to find a way to get him out" Varian speaks into the darkness, the alcohol helping him loosen what he's been holding in for six years. "He's going to die in there, if he hasn't already"

Hector shakes his head. "That's useless talk, nephew. There are no lost battles nephew, only the ones you don't fight" his voice is a bit slurred, consequence of the numerous empty bottles scattered over the floor. "We owe it all to Quirin. We're not going to stop until we get him back"

He's known Hector and Adira for four years now, but he still sits away from them in the tavern room, watching the way they're slumped over each other with a kind of intimacy Varian hasn't experienced since his father...

"It was my fault" he says, and much to his horror his voice sounds wet and vulnerable as he spills the secret he's kept close to his heart ever since that terrible day. "I was arrogant. He was- I was fighting with him. I thought no one was doing anything about the spikes and I had to fix it, I was an idiot-"

"Varian" Adira moves to straighten herself, reaching for him. He flinches back.

"It was supposed to be me" Varian can feel their eyes nailed to his face, and fat salty tears running down. He hasn't cried in over half a decade, and now he can't stop. "It was my chemical that made the rock grow, he... It was me who was going to be trapped. He pushed me out, he- I killed him" his voice breaks, and Adira seems to find strength in that to climb to her feet and stumble her way over to him. Hector doesn't trouble himself, and he merely crawls over to them.

He can barely breathe, wrapped in two sets of strong arms that feel so familiar yet aren't the ones he needs.

"I killed him" he repeats

"You didn't" says Adira, and kisses the top of his head like he's twelve and not twenty. "It was an accident, and he chose to protect you" she squeezes him tighter then, and something in him breaks even more, now that someone's there to pick up the pieces.

Hector makes a noise with his tongue, and Ruddiger comes from somewhere to curl on Varian's lap. "He would do it a thousand times over. He loves you more than any other thing" he says. His voice still sounds slurred, but serious. "And once we get him out, he's going to tell you himself as many times as you need to hear it"

\----

The blood stain _huge_, and Varian looks up at Adira in a panic as she holds Hector's life force in, before reigning his emotions back in place.

He's not fourteen anymore, he's not defenseless, and he's _not_ letting his uncle die.

"Uncover it. I need to see the wound." he orders without a hint of hesitation. At any other time it would bring him pride, that someone as experienced as his aunt follows his command without a doubt. It doesn't, because right now he's busy bringing out the adequate vial. "He's going to scream" he warns, dampening a thick cloth in the liquid.

"At this point it would be a blessing. Do what you must" she says, and Varian pushes the soaked cloth against the gash on Hector's torso.

There's a terrible sizzling sound, and an acrid smell that makes it hard to breathe for a few seconds. Also, Hector's eyes shoot open and he lets out a scream that tears through the quiet of the woods. Good.

Varian knows this is no cure, so he rushes to pour the contents of his waterskin over the wound, scrubbing with his hands to get all of the acid off the now cauterized flesh. 

It's going to leave a scar, and right now that's the absolute best news Varian can think about, because it means the blood has stopped, and Hector's going to live.

"You're a miracle, nephew" Adira squeezes him in a tight hug before going to help a very dizzy Hector drink some water. "Got a good head on your shoulders too. I'm proud" she sighs

Varian _does_ feel giddy then. Danger's passed, and here's this woman he loves and admires, praising him for saving this absolute idiot he loves and wants to punch at the moment but admires sometimes.

"How did he even get that?!" Varian asks, pointing at the angry red flesh. "It looks like he was ran through with a lance!"

Adira looks at him with eyes that speak of regret from every choice in her life. "He thought it was a good idea to fistfight a unicorn"

Varian blinks.

"In my defense" comes Hector's voice, weakened with pain and the adrenaline crash "we needed blood, and she was an asshole"

\----

"How did they even know we were captured?!" Bìhn asks as he furiously works at the manacles keeping his hands together. "we haven't seen them in months!"

The lock in the manacles clicks before falling open, and he moves to pick Varians'. The bounty hunters that ambushed them while they were having a night at port are far too busy escaping Penumbra and Lugubris' swings to care.

"A bird told them" Varian says as his own manacles fall apart. "Take the others to the ship and leave"

"What about you?" Bìhn frowns.

"I'll meet you at DunBroch, at the hideout in the cliffs" he says, wrapping his hand around Tenebras' guard. "now if you excuse me, I have a family reunion to attend"

\----

Sometimes they find him themselves, like after the raid on the little town on the outskirts of Enchantia. Varian's minding his own business counting his coins at the table -he's going to leave a nice golden tip for both the barmaid and the owner, who very pointedly didn't question the man with the sack of treasure escorted by two armed thugs- when a piece of paper gets dropped in front of him.

_Wanted for Piracy by the Crown of Ulstad. Dead or Alive. The Alchemist of the Sea. 10.000 Reichsmark._

"If you want an autograph, get me a quill. If you want trouble, I'll give you ten seconds to think it over" he says calmly without raising his glance or losing the count. 

"Barkeep! Got a quill?" He does look over though, when he recognizes Hector's voice as he walks towards the owner.

"When were you in Ulstad?" Asks Adira, and Varian smirks. She'd brought the last one, seven thousand rupees from Agrabah and now, no longer the highest bounty on his head asides from Corona's. 

"Just two months ago" he says like they're not on the opposite side of the world. "The new Chryssopoeia's quite fast"

"Brat" Adira rolls her eyes with an undeniably fond smile. "Got enough coin in there to buy your aunt a drink?"

"I doubt any coin in the world's enough to get you drunk Auntie, but I can do a couple bottles" Varian smirks and extends a hand to receive the quill and inkpot Hector is offering.

\----

_'... Just a rumour, but we've gone further for less. If you could check it out, I'm heading for another clue up North'_

He sends the letter. His aunt and uncle must be close, because it takes Neela only half a day to come back and forth. It's almost like having a normal conversation, or it would be if Varian was able to set foot on land without being arrested on sight, but whatever, China's in the middle of a war with the huns, they'll forget about him soon.

_'Sounds promising. As you said, we've done more for less. This might be the one, and the map you provided will be enough to find the mandrake field. Adira says to tell you she heard it's storm season up North, and to be careful. Hope your new ship is sturdier than the last one. If it isn't, get a bigger one before you go. You'll hear of us as soon as we find the place. Stay safe. _


End file.
